


(computers) never forget

by quantum27



Series: flynn has friends (or self indulgent non-legacy au with original encom crew) [2]
Category: Tron (Movies), Tron - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But only implied, Dissociation, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon Fix-It, Resurrection, i have a lack of knowledge of computers but technically so do the tron writers so we're even
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:48:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25831588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantum27/pseuds/quantum27
Summary: “So...there’s a concept...in programming…” He rolled back his shoulders, “That computers don’t forget things.”Tron frowned, “Alright, but what does that have to do with what you’re doing?”Flynn grimaced, “Well...I figured that. Maybe...Ram’s data wasn’t completely gone.”
Relationships: Alan Bradley & Kevin Flynn, Kevin Flynn & Ram, Kevin Flynn & Tron
Series: flynn has friends (or self indulgent non-legacy au with original encom crew) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1866916
Comments: 7
Kudos: 23





	(computers) never forget

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote half of this before 'quarters on the floor' but then i went back and was like....uuhhhhh yeah i'm gonna write that, so uhhh yeah.

“Flynn? Hey, _Flynn._ ” 

Kevin Flynn looked up from the spot he’d been staring at on his desk to see a slightly disgruntled Alan Bradley leaning on his office’s door frame. 

“Hey, Greetings Program.” replied Flynn in return. He winced at the sound of his own voice; it sounded tired and more than a little un-Flynn-like. 

Alan frowned then, and Flynn knew there was no way to back-track now. Ever since they had actually gotten to know each other and become real friends (besides having just one magical eye contact moment and knowing a doppel-ganger of him in the digital world didn’t mean instant friendship,) Alan had been able to read his moods very well. Not that Flynn had ever been exactly...subtle...ever. 

“Ok, what gives? I knocked on your office door frame several times and the whole time you just kept staring at your desk.” Alan walked into his office and leaned on the back of one of the chairs in front of his desk. 

Flynn had always kept a bit of an ‘open office’ condition. Basically he kept the door to his office open 90% of the time unless he really wanted to keep something quiet, or was in a meeting with someone. This meant that people could literally just knock on the door frame to announce themselves. It was a policy he’d had about the backroom of the arcade, and now here. 

“I was just- just thinking.” He replied, “What’d you need?” 

Alan looked at him flatly and raised an eyebrow, “Flynn. It’s _five_.” 

“Already?” His eyes widened in alarm as he turned in his chair to check the wall-clock. And there it was, five-ish o’clock; end of the workday.

He let out a long sigh, and ran a hand through his hair, “Geez, I can’t remember the last time I’ve lost that much time doing _nothing._ ” He had half a mind to lean his face into his hands and let out a long groan, instead he simply leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. 

Now Alan was really focusing in on his study of Flynn’s behavior. “Is something bothering you?” 

“ _No,_ No! Nothing’s...nothing’s bothering me, why would anything be bothering me?” The reply was too quick, and an obvious lie. 

Alan took off his glasses and started spinning them with one of the ear pieces, and now, Flynn was really in trouble. Besides the fact that everytime he did it, Flynn wondered how he didn’t wind up breaking them (which you could, Flynn used to do it with a pair of sunglasses, and the screw slipped out,) he also knew it was a sign that Alan was about to zero in on him.

“Does this have to do with you running into Roy earlier? He told me you were acting weird.” 

Flynn blinked in confusion, “Roy...? Wait a second, you mean Ra-” He shut his mouth. 

Alan’s eyes darted to the floor as he clearly thought about the response. Then he finally moved to sit in the chair. Which was just as easy to sink into as his couch at home, mostly just because it was fun to see businessmen struggle to get out of them again. 

“Does this have to do with MCP cleanup? Roy said he gave you a program you asked for.” 

Now Flynn really let out a groan. The term _MCP cleanup_ had become commonplace since he’d come back to ENCOM. When the MCP had been defeated, all the files it had hadn’t vanished or anything, they were still there. And therefore began the great project to try and ‘cleanup’ the system. He still estimated the company had a few more years before it’d be more like it was pre-MCP. It was his main project, trying to clean up the mess, and though he hadn’t expressed the opinion aloud, if ENCOM had tried to do it without him, they might as well just wipe the system clean and start over. 

“Not exactly...it’s more like a... _side project_.” 

Alan narrowed his eyes, “A _side project_? Flynn, we’ve talked about this-” 

He waved him off with a roll of his eyes, “Yeah I know, you and Lora’s little ‘keep me from keeping secrets' club.”

Alan’s expression shifted to discomfort, “It’s not- It’s not a club.” 

Flynn chuckled, “Yeah, whatever you say, man. If it's not a club then it's the KFFKSS-” 

" _Flynn_." 

They were both silent for a moment. Alan put his glasses back on. 

“Does this have to do with the, uh, ‘system world’?” 

Flynn let a small smile grace his face. It hadn’t been long since the fateful night that had changed his life. The ENCOM system which in itself was an entire world and it was beautiful. And Flynn had found himself in love with it, and a longing to go back. Of course, this meant convincing Lora (and Alan, they were a package deal,), that it was true. Which had been a process he didn’t want to repeat again. After convincing Lora, of course, Gibbs was easily swayed. 

Now he’d been making a weekly visit back to the world on every Friday after the workshift, occasionally other days as well. 

Speaking of every Friday- “Oh, _delete it,_ c’mon, Alan, we better start getting to the Laser Bay.” 

Flynn jumped up from his chair, and powered down his terminal, and began to grab his jacket and messenger bag. 

“You didn’t answer my question.” Alan said, raising both eyebrows. 

“Ah, well...about that, it’s kinda. Hard to talk about.” 

They made their way out of the office, and as Flynn was locking the door, he quietly asked, “Do you remember what I told you about Ram?” 

Alan ran a hand through his hair and exhaled, “That’s the one who...who died?” 

“Yeah. It wasn’t- It wasn’t good.” Flynn flinched as he remembered the gaping hole in the program’s side, and the red flashing of his circuits. Then flashing his friend a bright smile, he turned away from the door and leaned close to him, brushing shoulders, “But you wanna know who programmed him?” 

It took Alan a second to figure out what he meant but then, “You mean Roy?” 

Flynn grinned even wider and squeezed Alan’s shoulder, “On the ball, man! Hook, line, and sinker!” 

“ _Flynn.”_

“Right.” Flynn carefully avoided Alan’s gaze, finding it much more interesting to look at his shoes, “Anyway, I asked him for a copy of- of Ram. Because I’ve been trying to re-rezz him, but while I’ve managed to gather a majority of his code back together...some of his base coding was…” 

He trailed off as they started walking towards the elevator. Alan pushed his glasses up thoughtfully. 

“You’re. You’re trying to resurrect your friend?” His voice was a whisper, but it seemed awfully loud in Flynn’s ears.

Flynn hummed in response and then pressed a button to call up the elevator, “I’ve got all his code quarantined. All I’ve gotta do is get in _there_. And then I’m gonna try it and cross my fingers that nothing goes wrong.” 

Alan took a long moment to study his friend’s face. There was a barely concealed nervousness in him, ready to bubble to the surface. 

“Then why were you so…” He paused for a moment, clearly searching for a word, “ _upset_...in your office?” 

Flynn’s voice exploded a little in the next moment, “Maybe because-” he took a breath, and then quieted, “It’s- It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be to be handed a floppy, and realize than your dead friend is on it...and I thought it was hard enough already seeing Roy.” He added.

Alan winced, and then hesitantly put his hand on Flynn’s shoulder. Flynn smiled; Alan wasn’t usually the one to initiate physical contact. 

The elevator doors slid open with a cheery ding. The two men made their way in; Alan pressing the button for the Laser Bay. He glanced over at Flynn and opened his mouth as if to say something, and then closed it again. 

Flynn raised an eyebrow at him, slightly exasperated. Unprompted he continued his earlier train of thought, “After I prepared his code, I guess I just kinda shut down. Then eventually you came-” 

“How much time exactly did you lose, Flynn?” 

The man in question grimaced, and shook his head in response. 

The rest of the ride was quiet.

* * *

“You ready?” 

“You ask me that everytime, Lora, I think you know the answer.” Flynn responded in good humor. 

He sat in the same spot that he had _that_ night. He even sat in the same chair. Though the computer terminal had been moved due to the hazardous nature of it’s position. He faced away from the laser; there was something very nerve racking about facing it head on. 

“And everytime I still can’t believe we’re doing this.” Lora’s tone of voice was almost negative, but there was a clear smile on her face. 

Flynn smiled back, and then in a quiet tone said, “Y’know I’m still trying to convince you guys to come with me.” 

“I’ll be ready for that. But first-” 

“I _have_ to convince Alan. Remind me why I made that deal again?” 

“So he doesn't do that weird guard dog thing, y’know.”

“Mmmm. Him and Tron both.” Flynn muttered. 

"Besides. My first priority is studying the data from the results."

Flynn mock gasped "Why, sweetheart, you're not saying I'm your lab rat- are you?"

She winked. "The world may never know."

* * *

  
  


The moment Flynn rezzed into the system he felt the nervousness that was there before was even worse. 

The place where he rezzed into now was specifically programmed by him. It was akin to an I/O tower, but much, much smaller. It was also next to a place that he and the ‘gang’ all collectively referred to as HQ, (Flynn had been quite excited to have a ‘headquarters’, but it was much more akin to an apartment building than anything else.) He’d programmed both of these places with input from both the programs and the programmers. 

He rushed to the standing terminal he had in the tower once he had shaken off the disorientation of rezzing-in and eagerly got to work (not before he sent a message off to Yori, that _yes_ he got here safe and _yes_ he was all intact.) 

His fingers flew frantically over the keyboard. He knew he’d been working for quite some time when his legs started to ache due to standing. 

He was interrupted when he saw in his peripheral vision a very fast object flying towards his face. 

“Heeey, Bit! How are you?” He laughed lightly as the Bit nuzzled his face, tension leaving his shoulders. The Bit, of course, responded with a flurry of ‘yes’s. Finally, after a moment, he had to push Bit away, still laughing, “Alright, alright. Enough, I gotta get back to work.” 

“You’re working _in_ the tower now, Flynn? Couldn’t wait to get to HQ?” A voice said from behind him; a faux sternness that was clearly teasing.

“Tron!” Flynn grinned wide as he turned to his friend. Even now there was a slight disorientation as his brain had to change _Alan Bradley_ to _Tron._ Though now that he knew both of them better it was easier to see the differences. 

“Man, am I glad to see you! I was worried I was going to have to do this alone. Did you just come in from patrol?”

Tron nodded, making his way over to him. “Do what alone?” 

“Ah,” Flynn rubbed the back of his neck; he’d been dreading this explanation the most. He leaned against the terminal, and crossed his arms, trying to act chill. 

“So...there’s a concept...in programming…” He rolled back his shoulders, “That computers don’t forget things.” 

Tron frowned, “Alright, but what does that have to do with what you’re doing?” 

Flynn grimaced, “Well...I figured that. Maybe...Ram’s data wasn’t completely gone.” 

Tron’s mouth twisted as he ran the sentence through his head. Then, he squinted at him. “Are you saying- Are you saying that you’re going to-”

“Try and rerezz Ram? Yes.” 

They were silent, staring at each other for a moment. Tron turned away, hands on hips, shaking his head. He put a hand to his forehead. Flynn opened his mouth several times to try and say something; but each time he stopped, unsure of what he could say.

Sensing the tension; Bit cuddled Flynn’s cheek for a moment, before flying round to Tron, pushing at his shoulder. After a moment the security program let out a long sigh, and then petted Bit, then turned back to Flynn. 

“If you bring him back...is he going to be _our_ Ram?” 

Flynn clicked his tongue and turned back to the terminal, “I knew where he...where he died. So I was able to gather the data there. Some of his base code was damaged but I was able to get a copy of him from his user,” He held up a hand to silence Tron when the program opened his mouth to jump in, “I can’t say for sure he’ll be ok. But I’m hoping for the best though.” 

Tron glanced over to the ‘rezz-in’ pad, where Flynn usually came in. Finally, he nodded, and turned back to the user, “Do you need me to do anything?” 

“Uuuuh, some moral support would be great, man.” He went back to typing on the terminal. Tron in the meantime began pacing. Flynn, while typing, realized offhandedly that Tron was repeating the same number of steps each time he turned. He wondered if that was just a Tron-thing, or a program-thing. 

After several minutes Flynn finished typing. He stared at the screen. All he needed to do was input the last command. 

He jumped when he felt a hand land on his shoulder. Tron smiled at him, an understanding look in his eyes. 

“Alright. Let’s do this.” And then he typed in the final command. 

  
  


There was a moment’s delay before a beam of blue light appeared on the platform. (It was reminiscent of the green beam Flynn was familiar with whenever he arrived in the system.) Then a grid program in the silhouette of a figure materialized before finally, a very familiar-looking person appeared. 

Tron immediately took a step forward in front of the terminal as if to run, but Flynn put a hand on his shoulder. This was to be approached with caution. 

There was always something about the pose of rezzing-in that was a little off-putting; as if a person had been picked up by the scruff of the neck and set down. Then there was always a slight delay before the person was able to move. Then the figure took a small stumble backwards, before looking up.

“Ram,” Flynn breathed out in a hush. He and Tron made eye contact and then proceeded to run over to the resurrected program. This was to be approached with caution. 

It was lucky they ran over when they did because Ram’s legs seemed to be having a hard time holding him up. The user and the security program grasped their friend by the upper arms and slowly lowered him to the floor. 

“Wha-What’s going on- I don’t-?” 

“Hey, hey, it’s ok, everything’s ok.” Flynn reassured in a soft tone. Ram glanced between them, confusion clear on his face.

“...Flynn? Tron?” 

Tron and Flynn exchanged smiles, and Tron gave Ram a squeeze on the shoulder. 

“Flynn brought you back!” Tron rushed out in an excited whisper, a large grin on his face. Ram’s eyebrows furrowed, but he managed a small smile in return. 

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Flynn jumped in. While he was overjoyed, he had to make sure Ram was alright. 

“I-” Ram’s eyes narrowed, searching through his memories, “We...we were on the Reco...you were _stealing_ a Reco….and I- I was...and then I-” He took in a harsh breath. 

“That’s ok. You’re ok now Ram.” Ram shook his head, gaping at the both of them. 

“You’re- You’re a _User_.” 

Tron let out a huff of air that might’ve been laughter. Flynn raised an eyebrow, and shot him a frown, but then turned back to Ram. 

“Uh yeah...we can discuss that later. Right now is about you, man.” 

“Flynn,” Tron nudged the programmer, “His power cycles are slow-” 

“Let’s get him to HQ, get him some energy.”

* * *

They carried Ram, his arms thrown over their shoulders. Ram was attempting to walk, but his feet were uncooperative. 

The walk was short, thankfully, and soon they got him in. 

HQ was designed as an apartment building for the gang to reside in, each floor resembling each other, with only the program’s themselves changing bits, but the layouts were all the same. (There was a floor for Flynn, Tron and Yori, who both each had individual floors as well...and a few...extras. As well...for purposes such as other programs needing them.) However, the main ground-floor was made to be a space for all of them to interact. 

They took Ram immediately to the left side of the room, to what Flynn called ‘pillow hell’. (He’d gotten the idea of trying to replicate something similar to his couch in his room, but also make it a lot bigger. But it turned out...a lot bigger. It took up the entire wall of the room, and the room was rather big. There were also...lots and lots of pillows. It resembled something similar to a children’s ball pit almost. Because it turns out that programming something the first time around isn’t always as intended...but the programs had been tickled by it, and Flynn had been amused.) They’d set him by the very edge part of it, not trying to wade through it. 

Tron immediately went to the other side of the room which had a set up similar to a bar, (there was no need for kitchens in this world, as liquid was the only thing that was “edible” in this world...for now.) to get Ram some energy. 

Flynn sat next to Ram, a hand still on his shoulder, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to let go. 

“I can’t believe this.” Ram said as he sank deeper into the couch. 

“If I had a nickel for every time I said that in here…” Flynn trailed off as his gaze left Ram’s face. He couldn’t help but look at Ram’s right side. He remembered very vividly the way that the hole that had been there, pixels slowly disappearing. The angry red that surrounded the wound before it spread to the rest of Ram’s circuits, flashing in between the blue.

Flynn’s own circuits flashed a brighter blue for a moment in the burst of emotion. He hesitantly reached out his hand, then paused. 

“May I?” Ram glanced down at his side, then back at Flynn, and nodded. 

Flynn then reached over, and moved over to Ram’s armor, and moved it a bit out of the way to see the spot better. 

“Oh, _man._ ” His eyes widened as he got a look at the spot. Ram’s circuits’ pattern was a bit different in the spot now, a distinct curve around where the wound had been. But there were no scars or anything else to show that there’d even been a wound in the first place. If he didn’t know better he’d take it the same way as Tron’s symbol. Like it's always been that way. 

“Huh, that’s a little weird.” Ram said with a surprising nonchalance, and then, in concern, “Flynn, are you alright?” 

He blinked in surprise, and then realized he was tearing up. Rubbing the tears from the corners of his eyes, he simply smiled in response. 

Tron made his way over in that moment, a drink in hand for all of them it seemed. He carefully handed one to Flynn, and then Ram, before clamoring over the pillows at his feet to sit to the right of Ram. 

“Drink it slowly now, you don’t wanna overload your power cycles.” He advised. 

Before Ram took a sip, Flynn said, “Wait! Do you guys know what a toast is?” 

The two programs exchanged a look. 

“At least all these strange things he says has a reason- because he’s a _user_.” Ram muttered, but still audible to both of them. Tron let out a ‘tsk’ sound in amusement. 

Flynn rolled his eyes, and then lifted up his glass, “First, you say something like, ‘To Ram!’ and then you repeat it and clink your glasses together.” 

“So...To Ram.” He nodded, and they followed suit rather well for their first time ever. 

“And to computers never forgetting.” Tron said as he gestured with his glass to the both of them. 

“Here, here!” Flynn said, and they clinked glasses again. 

“You’re both ridiculous.” Ram said as he laid his head on Tron’s shoulder. “And I’ve only been back for like-” He waved his free hand, “A little while.” 

Ram fell asleep there on the security program’s shoulder. Said security program only leaned back and relaxed, looking rather uncharacteristic of him as he too fell asleep. 

Flynn grinned wistfully as he made his way out of his seat, gathering up the glasses to put them into them away. 

When he’d gone and done that he sat on one of the barstools, keeping the two programs in his line of sight. He leaned against his hands, letting out a long sigh. 

“Next time, I’ll compensate for the energy loss.” He murmured under his breath.

* * *

  
  


Later. Much later, after he’d gone back to the real world, joyously announcing the news to his user friends, (though they didn’t share the same enthusiasm, they seemed happy for him.) He found himself sitting at his home computer. 

He sipped at his cup of coffee, before putting it down, and then smiled and cracked his knuckles. 

“Alright, Clu...let’s see about getting you back.” 

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> *finger guns*  
> watch me dodge writing roy because i haven't read through any of the 'flynn lives' stuff, i'll probs get around to it at some point but-  
> leave your questions and comments below!
> 
> also time for my self-plug that i'm also @quanty.27 on instagram, because you know. (also putting this here because on this day of posting one of my readers did contact me there, so huh, what do ya know.)


End file.
